The aim of the second sMon workshop on methods for trend analysis of biodiversity data in Germany was the actual work on selected data of the species groups Amphibia, Odonata and Orthoptera as well as biotope mapping, using Schleswig-Holstein as an example. After three introductory lectures by the sMon team on possible methods of analysis and the presentations on the scientific work of Dr. Nick Isaac and Dr. Diana Bowler, the division of the workshop into focused small groups was discussed. Two areas quickly emerged in which the expertise of the attendees could be effectively bundled and which provided a direct introduction to working with the available data.

One subgroup specifically dealt with observation data from distribution atlases on a grid basis, whereas a second subgroup dealt with data from repeated biotope mapping.

Objectives of the two working groups:

   - Group of species atlas data on a grid basis:

    Review of the structure of the data.
    Exploring the potential of existing methods for the evaluation of species data.
    First analyses linking existing modelling approaches.

    - Biotope mapping group

    Development of a protocol for data preparation for the analysis of area-related data.
    Intersection of the biotopes of the two mapping runs.
    Assignment of the biotopes to types of the same definition over all survey periods.
    Harmonisation of the taxonomy.
    Development of methods for the analysis of species possibly overlooked or not recorded in one of the passes.
    First analyses of changes in the frequency of species in the biotopes.

Detailed summary of the workshop including first interim results (in German, .pdf)